Members of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners will soon have another duty on their agenda — serving as a liaison between county departments and BOC chairman Danny Yearwood.

Commissioner Ben Hendrix made the proposal at the board’s Tuesday night meeting. In the absence of top administrators and several managers who have either resigned or been fired, Hendrix said he believes the departments would benefit from the experience of the commissioners.

“I don’t want to give staff or department heads the impression that any of us want to micromanage what is going on in the departments,” Hendrix said to the sound of audible chuckles in the audience. “That is not what this is about. We just hope to ease the workload and be someone the staff can come to as a buffer... We’re all on the same team.”

Yearwood said he welcomes the commissioners’ help and wants elected officials’ departments to be included.

“I think it’s a great idea and I applaud you for wanting to be involved,” he said. “I think this will open up communication tremendously.”

He said he would like to distribute the number of departments evenly among the six commissioners who would then report to him.

However, commissioner Isaiah Berry said he would like two commissioners to be appointed to each department in case one is unavailable.

Thank goodness Ben Hendrix is trying to do something to mitigate the damage Yearwood is causing. It is terrible that it has reached the point where this action is necessary. Berry is also wise to suggest two commissioners given that some of the commissioners seem to be in lock step with Yearwood.

I did not get the impression from Mr. Hendrix at the Commission meeting he was suggesting anything but to help this county get through tough times. Communication is key & Mr. Hendrix felt he could be of help with this issue. It is my opinion Mr. Yearwood is doing the best he can with the leadership & problems he inherited & Mr. Hendrix wants to both be involved with the hard decisions & help create solutions. Bravo to both & to the other commissioners who don't have selfserving "agenda's"!

Yearwood likes to micro manage -- seems to me like the commissioners are all falling into step with him. Why do the commissioners need to meddle in the departments business? Isn't it the job of the department heads to manage the departments and make NEEDED reports to the commissioners?

I don't think Hendrix and the commissioners are trying to micromanage. I think they are trying to give the department heads some help dealing with Yearwood and at the same time make sure Yearwood doesn't run off every good employee the county has.

For those who are unaware, there was an invention long ago called the wheel. Now a lot of thought and engineering went into this invention and it was eventually perfected through trial and error. It is something that has been improved upon very little since it's inception. If anything it has been observed and copied, with elements of it's design used in other products. What can we learn from this simple, yet enduring item? Well, it need not be reinvented. Why try to pioneer a model of government efficiency (if there is really such a thing) when plenty of models exist around us. Trying to manage what one knows nothing about leads to misdirection. Appointed department heads should have the requisite knowledge and experience to lead their department. Letting those who think they have an idea of how a department should work, without having the education, knowledge, experience and wisdom of the particular discipline they are expected to lead is doomed for failure. You would not ask an artist to supervise mechanics, or a nurse to supervise police officers, etc. You assign someone who has expert knowledge of the field experiences as well as the budgetary requirements. Supervising what is on paper is easy, but one has to be able to supervise the realities of what employees encounter also. It is difficult, at best, to do so if you have no experience in the field. Please appoint department heads that have what it takes to run a department. Now is not the time to have folks trying to figure things out as to the workings of a department. The wheel is round, don't reinvent it.

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